Brother: NY fireman killed in ambush was selfless

Associated Press

Associated Press

Updated 8:26 am, Tuesday, January 1, 2013

This undated image provided by the West Webster fire department shows firefighter Tomasz Kaczowka. Tomasz Kaczowka. 19, was killed when William Spengler, 62, who served 17 years in prison for the 1980 hammer killing of his grandmother, armed himself with a revolver, a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle before he set his house on fire to lure first responders into a death trap before dawn Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/West Webster Fire Department)

This undated image provided by the West Webster fire department...

West Webster firefighter Nick Volo, with support from West Webster Chaplain Hugh Knight, speaks of his friend and colleague Tomasz Kaczowka, during his funeral mass at St. Stanislaus Church in Rochester, New York, Monday Dec. 31, 2012. Kaczowka was killed along with firefighter Michael Chiapperini while responding to a fire in Webster, New York on Dec. 24, 2012, where William Spengler shot at first responders. Two other firefighters were injured while seven house burned.

(Jamie Germano, AP)

West Webster firefighter Nick Volo, with support from West Webster...

A West Webster firefighter carries a program during the funeral for fellow West Webster firefighter Tomasz Kaczowka at St. Stanislaus Church in Rochester, N.Y.,, Monday Dec. 31, 2012. Kaczowka was killed along with firefighter Michael Chiapperini while responding to a fire in Webster, New York on Dec. 24, 2012, where William Spengler shot at first responders. Two other firefighters were injured while seven house burned.

(Jamie Germano, AP)

A West Webster firefighter carries a program during the funeral for...

Bishop Emeritus Matthew H. Clark, center, prays during the funeral for West Webster firefighter Tomasz Kaczowka at St. Stanislaus Church in Rochester, New York, Monday Dec. 31, 2012. Kaczowka was killed along with firefighter Michael Chiapperini while responding to a fire in Webster, New York on Dec. 24, 2012, where William Spengler shot at first responders. Two other firefighters were injured while seven house burned.

(Jamie Germano, AP)

Bishop Emeritus Matthew H. Clark, center, prays during the funeral...

West Webster firefighters in procession with the casket of fellow firefighter Tomasz Kaczowka during his funeral mass at St. Stanislaus Church in Rochester, New York, Monday Dec. 31, 2012. Kaczowka was killed along with firefighter Michael Chiapperini while responding to a fire in Webster, New York on Dec. 24, 2012, where William Spengler shot at first responders. Two other firefighters were injured while seven house burned.

(Jamie Germano, AP)

West Webster firefighters in procession with the casket of fellow...

Bishop Emeritus Matthew H. Clark, center, shares his condolences with Marian Kaczowka during the funeral mass for his son, West Webster firefighter Tomasz Kaczowka, at St. Stanislaus Church in Rochester, New York, Kaczowka was killed along with firefighter Michael Chiapperini while responding to a fire in Webster, New York on Dec. 24, 2012, where William Spengler shot at first responders. Two other firefighters were injured while seven house burned.

ROCHESTER — Tomasz Kaczowka's father used to time how long it would take his volunteer firefighter son to get from his room to his car after hearing the sound of his pager, Kaczowka's brother recalled Monday.

"He would cover the distance in a time Usain Bolt would be proud of," Darek Kaczowka said during the funeral for his 19-year-old brother, one of two West Webster firefighters slain during a Christmas Eve ambush in upstate New York. "There were times when I had to get out of the way or risk being run over."

With hundreds of mourners filling St. Stanislaus Church, Tomasz Kaczowka was described by his brother and others as a selfless volunteer who was determined to help people and whom everyone liked.

Autopsies showed that Chiapperini died of a single gunshot and Kaczowka was killed by two gunshots, which police said were fired by William Spengler as firefighters arrived at his burning home in a trap the 62-year-old ex-convict set in his neighborhood on the shore of Lake Ontario. Two other firefighters and an off-duty police officer were wounded before Spengler, who'd spent 17 years in prison for bludgeoning his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer, fatally shot himself.

"We all know that sorrow and pain are so much a part of our earthly lives and nowhere is that more evident than here today at this moment," Mielcarek said at Monday's service.

An estimated 5,000 first responders from across the state were in town for the weekend to attend calling hours for both men. At Chiapperini's funeral Sunday, Webster Fire District Chief James Deisenroth called him a "true hero" and mentor who "gave me the courage and confidence to handle anything."

Parts of Kaczowka's funeral were said in Polish, including a message of condolence read by Mateusz Stasiek on behalf of the ambassador to Poland and consul general of the Republic of Poland in New York.

"You will stay forever young, forever a hero," Stasiek added, "and you will never be forgotten."

Kaczowka, who also worked as a 911 dispatcher, had been a firefighter for about a year after participating in the department's Explorer program.